"Bloody Benders" farm on the Auction Block (Parsons: crime, house)

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A little Bender background: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloody_Benders

A piece of land where Kansas’ first known serial killers murdered at least 11 people in the 1870s is up for auction.

The 162-acre tract of cropland known as the “Bender Farm” will be sold off to the highest bidder by an Indiana-based auction company next month in Parsons.

It’s the same parcel where the Bender family — John Sr., his wife and their adult children, John Jr. and Kate — carried out a series of gruesome slayings between 1871 and 1873. Accounts say they lured road-weary travelers into their small, two-room cabin with the promise of a hot meal and rest.


Read more here: https://www.kansas.com/news/local/cr...#storylink=cpy

Zerf's Six String Justice features Beautiful Katie, a tune he was working on when he came to my house to interview my father, who had a Bender tale or 2 of his own.

My grandfather was clerk of the District Court in Montgomery Co., KS, elected in 1919, he served 12 terms. Dad had a lot of crime stories . . . this one is undated: the Montgomery Co. Sheriff was in Tulsa, & walked by a used furniture store. An attractive woman inside caught his attention, he kept thinking he'd seen her before. It came to him that it was Kate Bender. He returned to the store, only to find it abandoned, the woman gone . . .

My grandmother's ancestors included a Johnson, who was on the posse which set out to trail the Benders. The posse returned without the Benders. Rumor had it they caught up with them & gave them frontier justice. Johnson would never speak about the posse, & took his story to the grave.

Myself, I make it a point to never accept a meal @ a table where my skull is up against a blanket.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kohl...c&index=9&t=0s